
Inset: Saul C. Nava (Ventura County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The apartment complex where Nava tortured and killed his girlfriend in December 2021 (Onscene.tv).
A 24-year-old man in California will likely spend the remainder of his days behind bars for torturing his girlfriend over the course of several days, ultimately killing her on Christmas Eve.
A jury in Ventura County on Tuesday found Saul C. Nava guilty of nine felony counts in the 2021 slaying of 24-year-old Alisen Takacs-Escobar, authorities announced. Jurors took only one day of deliberation before convicting Nava on counts of first-degree murder, torture, kidnapping, aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of child pornography, and inflicting corporal injury to a current or former cohabitant.
“Although this result cannot erase the immeasurable pain the defendant inflicted on the victims and their families, we hope that this brings some measure of closure to see him held accountable for his horrific crimes,” Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement following the proceedings.